Volume 6 - CH 7(3/5)
Finally, Naotsugu's back was against a wall and he had nowhere left to run. Lu's fists swung forward like a windmill. However, his right haymaker was blocked by Naotsugu's right hand in the form of a karate chop. The short sword that was originally held in Naotsugu's right hand had vanished. For the first time, turmoil warred across Lu's face.
After nullifying the attack from Lu's right hand, Naotsugu managed to divert Lu's attack strength. Off balance, Lu's body tilted forward. Meanwhile, the short sword originally in Naotsugu's right hand materialized in his left hand.
Naotsugu's sword wasn't aimed at Lu's exposed back of the head, but slashed towards the side of his waist. Tilting forward, Lu's body was perfectly in line to receive the blade coming for his abdomen. Even at this disadvantage, Lu still tried his utmost to twist and avoid the blade going into his vitals. The short sword swept across Lu's side and left a deep cut.
Inverted, Lu sent his feet kicking towards Naotsugu's head. Naotsugu took one step back to avoid the blow. Following that Lu's body flipped sideways instead of forward and his feet were pressed against the wall rather than the floor. In the next instant, he kicked off the wall and pounced ferociously towards Naotsugu.
The pair of outstretched hands were like the claws of a tiger, its strength in no way inferior to a feral beast and capable of shredding flesh and bone alike.
An overpowering sense of danger prompted Naotsugu to flee in spite of his terrible posture. Lu kept his leaping posture as he brushed past Naotsugu and landed two meters away. Landing with both hands on the ground, he quickly turned around and pounced on Naotsugu again. Despite Lu Gonghu's injury, the ferocity and pressure of his attack seemed to be even stronger than prior to his injury. This time, it was Naotsugu's turn to fret.
After the fourth charge, Lu Gonghu's attack was interrupted by an attack from the flank. On reflex, he took evasive action.
Two burning blades came rushing towards Lu. Its true form was tightly compressed air caused by high temperature differences. Lu saw the opening between the two blades and dodged between them. Yet immediately afterward, the concentrated compressed air exploded in fury, striking Lu's body from both sides with their combined explosion.
Lu grunted in pain and sprang towards the stairs at one end of the corridor. Naotsugu hurried in pursuit, but Lu's figure had disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Mari......
Thanks for the assistance."
It was Mari's magic that enabled Naotsugu to escape from harm, but this was not a premeditated attack. After seeing Naotsugu locked in combat with Lu, Mari immediately joined in the attack. The reason why Mari finally interposed in the conflict was because until now, the battle between Naotsugu and Lu was too intense and close to risk launching her attack.
"Nao......
You're hurt......!?"
Although Naotsugu's words were meant to comfort Mari as she came rushing forward — plainly, Mari didn't even hear him — because her astonishment suffused her face. Before her eyes, Natosugu's right hand was flushed into an angry red.
The outcome of Naotsugu and Lu's battle could be deciphered from the pain each side suffered. When deflecting Lu's attack, Naotsugu's right hand also suffered considerable damage. Flank versus right hand, from a long term perspective Naotsugu had the upper hand, but if the battle was to be decided quickly, then Naotsugu would undoubtedly fall after losing his primary hand.
"Don't worry, although I need to see a specialized doctor in the beginning, I can handle the rest. Fortunately, we're currently in a hospital."
"But you ship out tomorrow......"
"That's OK. My superiors would understand. After all, this is a work related injury."
Naotsugu's tone was no different than normal, which allowed Mari to gradually relax. However, after shaking off her turmoil, her brain sprouted another question.
"That man......
Who was he? To be able to match Nao in close quarters."
Naotsugu hesitated briefly, but still answered the question.
"That guy is called Lu Gonghu. A Magician from the Great Asian Alliance's Special Ops."
"Lu Gonghu......
So that's him......"
Mari was long aware of Lu Gonghu's name that was just as famous as Naotsugu's own.
"Mari."
Naotsugu suddenly grabbed Mari's shoulders and turned her to face himself.
"Nao, why are you doing this all of a sudden?" Shame faced, Mari turned aside.
"Mari."
Nevertheless, after hearing Naotsugu call out her name again in a decisively odd tone, Mari turned back around.
"I must leave tomorrow. During this time, I am very worried since I won't be by your side......"
"I understand, Nao. Then, is there anything you need to tell me?"
"Lu Gonghu saw your face before disappearing. He will definitely see you as an enemy."
Mari nodded at Naotsugu's words. Her eyes didn't contain a hint of fear, which only deepened Naotsugu's concern.
"That man is a barbaric Magician bearing the name "Devouring Tiger". You saw his power today. During this time, please don't be by yourself."
Mari's felt that Naotsugu's words were an exaggeration, but she swallowed those words at the serious glint in Naotsugu's eyes.
Lu Gonghu, who had been forced to retreat from his duel with Naotsugu at Mari's interference, was currently sitting in the passenger seat of the luxury car that Zhou was driving.
"My apologies if I stole your thunder there."
After leaving the gates of the hospital, Zhou struck up a conversation from the driver's seat.
Lu said nothing as he kept his eyes forward.
Zhou kept going despite seeing that Lu's attitude wasn't very welcoming.
"Speaking of which, I am quite surprised that Master Lu was injured."
Even though he was aware that the topic at hand was discussing his own mishap, Lu didn't bat an eyelid.
"Did you use Earth Mover?"
The question he opened his mouth to ask was regarding the ability Zhou used to facilitate his escape.
"Surely you jest. Compared to Master Chen, my level is merely cheap parlor tricks and definitely unworthy of any notice."
And so, Zhou smiled without a care as he responded to Lu's accusation that he was hiding something up his sleeve.
? ? ?
After returning home from school, Tatsuya immediately walked towards the conference phone.
The first number he dialed was one he called earlier today. "Hello."
The voice came from a young woman (not a young girl) and used words that seemed two centuries out of date.
Not only the image, but even the volume quality had been boosted, but he could tell that the slightly murky image came from the phone on a mobile terminal.
"It's Shiba."
"Aya, it's quite rare for you to call twice in one day."
A clear, frank voice accompanied the image of a smiling woman wearing a suit like a young secretary from a large corporation that was displayed on the monitor.
She intentionally disguised herself inconspicuously, but her mundane cosmetics and ordinary wardrobe only served to intensify her moving features.
"My apologies, are you in the middle of a date?"
"Haha."
Fujibayashi, wearing clothes that perfectly suited that sort of nightly encounters, let out a professional, dazzling smile.
"Alas, this is work. Besides, the Casanovas are only welcome at this time. Since there aren't any good men around, oh wells."
Her tone was quite different than usual, which implied that she drank something containing alcohol. Of course, Tatsuya (on the other side) was never going to be caught dead saying something moronic like "you're in the middle of drinking".
Even though cars were now controlled by the central control system in the city proper, drinking and driving was still a punishable crime. To be precise, sitting in the driver's seat after imbibing constituted a crime. Social norms dictated that one must be able to maintain accurate judgment and normal mobility while operating a motor vehicle.
On the other hand, Fujibayashi's work wouldn't involve a normal car. As usual, she would be driving her modified car with boosted intelligence gathering functions. So, she was on her own car and was drunk. In other words, someone else besides Fujibayashi was currently in the driver's seat.
"Ah~......
I wonder where there's another handsome man like Tatsuya- kun."
Maybe she realized that Tatsuya was thinking about pointless things, Fujibayashi started flirting with Tatsuya in a sultry tone. Even after she spoke, she mischievously sent amorous gazes at Tatsuya.
"Is that so. I actually had a few things I wanted to talk about, so I guess I'll call back tomorrow."
Tatsuya only said this because he was absolutely certain that Fujibayashi was joking around with him. On the other side of the screen, Fujibayashi's coquettish expression was exchanged with an elated smile.
"How calm of you......
Well, that makes you worthy of the title 'man with most free time'."
"Somehow I feel that calling me the one with the most free time seems a little overboard......
By the way,"
"Relax, I'm alone right now."
Fujibayashi cut off Tatsuya before he could signify that he was concerned about information security.
"So, you can say anything you want." Then, she urged Tatsuya to cut to the chase. "Thank you."
Even Tatsuya, who was a proponent of sticking to his own guns, would be pulled along at another's pace if his opponent was Fujibayashi.
Tatsuya waved the white flag at someone who seemed to be able to switch between expressions like an actress before cutting to the heart of the matter.
"Actually, there was a burglary on campus today."
"Burglary? You mean the incident you mentioned this morning? They actually went through with it?"
"Yes, and they used sleeping gas as well."
On the other side of the screen, Fujibayashi wore an astounded expression that said "So they actually dared".
"Fortunately, it ended in an attempt."
"Sorry, I know we've restricted your side on our end......"
"This result isn't entirely because of my duty to the military."
Fujibayashi bowed her head in apology because Tatsuya was restricted to certain magics because of classified military secrets, so Fujibayashi was apologizing because Tatsuya had to unnecessarily go the extra mile.
Even if Fujibayashi's words were true and Tatsuya's words were only an excuse, repeating them was necessary to grease the wheels of this conversation.
Neither the apologizing side nor the receiving side truly meant what they said.
"I have a video recording at the scene of the attempted robbery."
"Eh...... How did you manage that?"
When planning to steal information, cutting the video feeds was the basic of the basics. Also, there was no way he could be just sitting in that room waiting for the crime to occur.
"It was recorded by an independently running robot."
"Oh, the 3H, so you have that kind of interests."
"Negative, the location is the room belonging to the Robot Research Club and the 3H was an accessory within."
Since the 3H boasted refined features, some people believed that individuals who utilized the 3H had a certain sort of fetish.
Knowing this, Tatsuya tried to use "independently running robot" to muddle through, but it looked like that didn't work on Fujibayashi.
"That recording,"
There was no way Tatsuya could clear his name if it got stuck here, so he forcibly moved the conversation forward.
"I managed to save it, so can you investigate?"
"What did you get?"
Honestly answering at this point was likely one of positive sides of Fujiybayashi's personality.
Although this degree of interaction was normal, there was still an equivalent rating system. At any rate, in Tatsuya's social circle, this was already a "pleasant personality".
"The tool used during the attempted robbery includes the logo for the CAD containing the hacking processes."
"I see. Tatsuya-kun, looks like you've got the fox by the tail."
"That would be an exaggeration, but that would be the gist of it."
"No worries."
At Tatsuya's expressionless face, Fujibayashi intentionally replied with a robust voice. Truly a pleasant personality, indeed.
"The captain said it's about time to get started, so we've already been keeping tabs on logos. We should be able to narrow it down in the next day or two, so just sit tight and wait for the good news."
Mysteriously, Fujibayashi made this prediction.
Nothing more needed to be said after Tatsuya thanked her. Afterwards, he passed the data to Fujibayashi's terminal.
? ? ?
After finishing the call with Tatsuya, Fujibayashi let Inspector Chiba Toshikazu and his sergeant back onto the car. —Although she did drink wine, Fujibayashi was still sitting in the driver's seat, which more or less coincided with Tatsuya's estimation. Anyway, Fujibayashi was one of the individuals in the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion that fell outside the norm.
Still, from Toshikazu's perspective, this movement was filled with an interesting aura. In order to continue the case where the trail had gone cold, he wanted to purchase information from the intelligence vendor who knew everything across the world, "the owner of Rothbart".
This was why he was acting in concert with the beautiful young woman he ran across in the Cafe Rothbart.
He originally wanted to borrow her strength, but now it looked like he was doing volunteer work. Even though he privately asked himself "How did it get to this?", he still hadn't arrived at a satisfactory answer. Earlier, he had believed that he was immune to her womanly charms, but upon repeated reflection, he was no longer so confident in himself.
"My apologies, Mr. Chiba, that was a private call."
"No, that's quite alright."
Toshikazu was wearing a high-class casual suit that matched Fujibayashi very well, though the fact that policemen still received a paltry pay from past to present was a headache for many people.
However, from his perspective, he received an extra stipend from his family in addition to his policeman's wage, so his wallet was considerably more corpulent.
"So, what clues did your private informer give you?"
In order to avoid breaking the relaxed atmosphere, Toshikazu stepped lightly into the issue. In response, Fujibayashi's face lighted up with a delighted smile the same way she smiled at Tatsuya earlier.
Emphatic men were always welcome. Fujibayashi was highly irritated by slow-witted opponents, so she appeared to think highly of Toshikazu's quick wit.
"A poor mouse that was used by the fox, as well as the picture of the tail lent to the mouse."
"......So it's a recording of the collaborator and the hacking tool?"
At Inspector Chiba's somewhat bewildered guess, Fujibayashi smiled and said "Correct" as she nodded.
"Inspector, do you know the first step to hunting foxes?"
Afterward, she watched the man in the passenger's seat with serious eyes.
"I don't know......
Unfortunately, although I carry a gun......
I've never been a hunter."
Unable to keep up with the swift change in topic, the young inspector was unable to fluidly answer the question. The smile that masked his identity as an elite lieutenant fell away as he murmured with a solemn expression.
"Hunting foxes starts with finding the foxhole. Once the den has been destroyed, the hounds can be let loose to shoo the fox from the bushes."
"......So we should look for the den?"
"I'll leave the recording of the high school collaborator to you. Start by investigating this person's movements through the street cameras. If there was hardware that cannot be obtained normally, then it would mean that the student must have made contact somewhere."
Investigating the camera recordings without a warrant was unquestionably illegal. In addition, since the target was an adolescent, a search warrant wouldn't be granted easily. Still, Toshikazu had another question in mind.
"Compared to location, how long will we have to look? It would not be an exaggeration to say that there are nearly unlimited locations for one person to visit within a short one to two months. Trying to find a suspicious contact within this time frame is......"
"There are 32 locations within Tokyo proper. Among these locations, pick out the locations where the collaborator has visited in the past month."
Fujibayashi's answer nearly forced Toshikazu's mouth to drop open in shock.
"......Thirty two locations......
You've already narrowed it down so much."
"That's because the inspector isn't aware of data for other collaborators. While you're still thinking "Wow, now I'm going to be busy" and are at your wit's end, we got our hands on additional information."
"......Other collaborators? Why wasn't the police informed?"
"Naturally, that's because the other collaborator is a girl." Toshikazu was struck speechless at this concise answer.
"I cannot leave a girl with her future ahead of her on the police's blacklist."
"......So it's OK if it's a boy?"
"That's their own responsibility."
Toshikazu had no words for Fujibayashi's declaration.
"I believe in a patriarchal ideology, so I believe that men are supposed to work harder than women. Thus, men must learn to discipline themselves and take responsibility for their own actions."
At Fujibayashi suddenly using these archaic principles to stuff the conversation, Toshikazu could only continue to stare at her for a long time.
? ? ?
It was already the second day when the wounded tiger returned to its lair after being wounded against the foxes. (Of course, they believed themselves to be the hunter.)
Seeing Lu's injury, surprise flooded Chen's face, but he didn't ask how the man suffered his injuries. He had already made his report on the mission. Before returning, Lu proposed another surprise attack, but Chen rejected that approach. Lu was supposed to be responsible for the failed assassination attempt on Hirakawa Chiaki, but Chen chose not to do so. The cause of the failure and especially Zhou's activities during this time weighed heavily on Chen's mind. They might fall into Zhou's snare if he prosecuted Lu's responsibility now. In addition......
"The situation has changed!"
Another emergency had occurred. In order to handle this situation, Lu's strength was imperative.
"Our allied collaborator, Sekimoto Isao's mission in First High has ended in failure. He has been arrested and is now being held in the Hachiōji Special Detention Center."
Forget the hospital, there was no way to breach a special detention facility designed to hold (or protect) magical adolescents without serious firepower. Additionally, Sekimoto had personally made contact with Chen and company, so he naturally stood at a higher priority than Chiaki, who only met through Zhou.
"Set aside Hirakawa Chiaki's mission for now. Concentrate on eliminating Sekimoto first."
"Yes, sir."
Although the mission difficulty had spiked several levels, Lu still blandly accepted his orders. It was impossible to tell from his expression that he had been injured.
? ? ?
Monday.
While waiting for Miyuki to descend from the bus, Tatsuya found a pair of classmates sitting together in the back.
They must have felt his gaze. The man and woman sitting next to one another both formed an "Ah" with their mouths.
"Onii-sama, did you find something interesting?"
Gracefully descending from the bus, Miyuki asked when she noticed her brother's expression. Upon following the direction of her brother's gaze, she covered her mouth with one hand with an "Ah!".
Before the siblings' gaze and across the windows for two rows of seats, Erika and Leo stiffly smiled back in welcome.
Today, there were four companions going to school together from the station. Although it was rare that all eight of them were together, it was equally infrequent for four people to be together.
The reason for this was obvious.
"......Hey, why are you guys so early today."
Leo asked in displeasure.
However, although Leo appeared to be venting his ire, Tatsuya wasn't someone who walked on egg shells in fear of others.
"Since there's only one week left until the competition, there are all sorts of arrangements starting from the morning."
Right now, they were an hour earlier than usual. "Leo too, why are you here so early?"
Tatsuya had a legitimate reason in next Sunday's Thesis Competition. Objectively speaking, it was more perplexing for Leo to show up at this time than Tatsuya.
"Erika seemed to have gotten up really early today too?"
Tatsuya wanted to continue asking Leo, who seemed to be at a loss for words, but Miyuki beat him to the punch and asked Erika instead.
"......I usually get up really early."
Erika's answer seemed a little guilty as she replied back to Miyuki's innocent, refreshing smile with her pace noticeably picking up towards school.
"Is that so? So that's why Saijou-kun got up so early today."
Still, hearing Miyuki murmuring to herself, Erika finally stopped in her tracks. There was no way she would be able to stand aside and let a comment like that pass by.
"Hold on, Miyuki! If you say it like that, doesn't that sound like I get up every morning to wake this guy up?"
"Yeah! Seriously, I should be the one who got up earlier!" Yet, Erika's counterattack was horribly derailed by Leo.
"............"
"............"
"............"
Erika, Tatsuya, and Miyuki wordlessly glared at Leo. (To be precise, only Erika was glaring, the other two wore innocent expressions)
"......Eh? What's with this mood?"
Leo was the only one who could not comprehend the situation (that he caused).
"......Why isn't anyone saying anything?"
Although Erika's tone remained biting, her face was completely flushed and tears appeared in her eyes.
"Oh well......
The early bird gets the worm."
Tatsuya was no scoundrel, so there was no need to continue asking at this stage.
In truth, Tatsuya wasn't very capable at changing the conversation.
By his side, Miyuki's bewildered smile and Leo's confused tilt of the head were, on some level, a perfect comparison.
Tatsuya arrived at the classroom just before class to find Mizuki frantically trying to comfort the sulking Erika in the room.
"Ah, Tatsuya."
The one who struck up a conversation was Mikihiko.
As usual, Leo sat with his back to him and a scowl on his face.
Mizuki must have stepped on a landmine, with Mikihiko pouring oil on the fire.
Tatsuya immediately grasped the situation. "Erika, it's about time to let it go."
Tatsuya said as he brought up the soft drink can and lightly tapped Erika's face.
"Ah!?"
Erika jumped out of her seat in surprise. "What are you doing?"
"Catch."
Tatsuya put the can of cola into the hands of Erika, who was 50% more aggressive than usual.
"Hot."
Erika said this in an odd tone like someone catching a hot potato while directing a confused look at Tatsuya.
"Drink something sweet to change the mood."
"......Hmph, don't think you can get back into my good graces with this."
Erika said this as she popped the cap, though her face had relaxed somewhat. Tatsuya's smile reached her eyes.
"......What?"
Upon seeing Tatsuya's expression, Erika was forced to ask. Still, though there was still some resentment, her overall tone had softened.
"You borrowed the Chiba Family's power to train Leo and teach him new magic, right? I didn't intend to tease you guys, so relax."
These words were originally intended to soothe Erika, but they brought an entirely unexpected result. Pure astonishment suffused Erika's face.
"......Is Tatsuya-kun really clairvoyant?"
"No, I am not clairvoyant. I speculated that was the case after gauging Leo's energy consumption and, in conjunction, the fluidity of his magic."
The magic that Tatsuya spoke of was something that combined psion fluidity and phenomenon rewriting in order to invoke magic.
Fluidity of psions impacted Magic Sequence construction speed, precision, and scale. Yet, just this alone was unable to affect the Eidos. All of these had to be combined with the power to rewrite phenomena in order to constitute magic.
"No, energy this and magic that, you said it so naturally......
No, at this point."
Magicians were adept at perceiving psions and judging interference strength. However, Erika was getting tired of being constantly surprised by the depth of Tatsuya's knowledge. —Speaking of getting tired, Erika definitely wasn't the only one.
"Now that you mention it, Tatsuya, how bad was it yesterday?"
Seeing the storm pass, Mikihiko spoke with a much more relaxed expression on his face.
"Yesterday? Ah......
The news spread quite quickly."
Tatsuya paused for a moment not because he was playing dumb.
Regardless of whether it was Hirakawa Chiaki or Sekimoto Isao, he had handled both incidents yesterday, so it was hard to use "how bad" to describe them.
Given that Fujibayashi said "one or two days", the hackers would be captured today or tomorrow. This was as good as a fact for Tatsuya.
The Electron Sorceress — "Electric Witch".
Fujibayashi Kyouko's two titles not only signified her talent in electronic interference magic as a Magician, but also her ability to see information gathering on the Net as child's play.
Compared to manipulating the phenomena of the world, she was more adept at altering information on the network.
Just as Tatsuya could read the information that was written into an item in the past, so too could Fujibayashi Kyouko retrieve and reconstruct information that had been copied over from magnetic and optic memory units. And, unlike Tatsuya, she had no time restriction. In place of that, she had a limit where she couldn't retrieve the data if it had been physically deleted, but in an age where computers had linked the entire globe, completely eradicating data that had been recorded was practically impossible.
In other words, for her, so long as any trace of the electronic signal remained, she would be able to find it no matter where it hid.
Fujibayashi was the one who taught Tatsuya how to work the network, but in this field he had no chance of catching her in this lifetime. In Tatsuya's estimation, there were only a handful of network specialists who could rival her ability.
"Ah, the perpetrator has already been arrested, so there's nothing to worry about."
Hence Tatsuya answered Mikihiko in this manner.
Still, Erika and Mikihiko were unable to relax because they remained in the dark regarding Fujibayashi's movements.
"Just because we caught the perpetrator red-handed doesn't mean we're in the clear."
Erika said.
"This doesn't sound like a solo act, maybe there's some sort of organization behind this......"
Mikihiko also had similar concerns. "How about we go interrogate him?"
Then, Leo abandoned his role of quietly listening to everyone and interjected with his normal overly optimistic tone.
It wasn't that simple. Setting Chiaki aside, Sekimoto was in the special detention facility. Nonetheless, this time Leo's comment didn't invite the usual retorts and backlash.
"You're right......
We should seriously pursue the individual's responsibility."
Even Erika, the one who usually retorted the most, expressed her complete assent.
"Really? But Erika-chan, Sekimoto-senpai is currently at......"
"He's probably held at the special detention facility. We can't just simply walk in there and meet him."
Mizuki's hesitant words were quickly supplemented by Erika's own. Of course, she wasn't going to change her mind simply because Mizuki was against it.
"It's not that we're completely out of ideas. Barring further options, we could just sneak in."
"Hey~ Hey~."
Hearing this, Tatsuya finally couldn't hold back any longer.
"Even if we don't do that, we can see him so long as we ha-->>